Naoisha’s Story of Courage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naoisha (in front) with Drifter

 

“Special Life, Special Gift”

 

On September 25, 2007 one of my Samoyeds, Naoisha, was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma.  Since his running mate, Drifter, had died on June 9, 2007 of the same cancer we were in shock.  Naoisha had turned 9 years old in July of 2007 and had always been very healthy. 

Naoisha was one of my main sled dogs and ran wheel position (in front of the sled) with Drifter.  After Drifter died and before we realized Neesh had cancer, Cooper (another one of my Samoyeds) was learning wheel from Naoisha.  The lost of my 2 main wheel dogs within months of each other was difficult for the team dogs and myself.  For me, I questioned my ability to “lead” the team without the two dogs I felt I depended on so many times.   But I found during the winter of 2007-08 that other dogs “shined” and took over being dependable.  And with young dogs in with a few older ones, we had some work to do to be a team.  But Drifter and Naoisha did guide us in spirit through our winter journey in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of Minnesota.

Bob and I opted to do chemotherapy with this Samoyed.  The veterinary oncology department at the U. of MN set up the chemotherapy protocol for Naoisha.  We live 6 hours from the U of MN so we were very happy that our personal vet, Jeannette Bjornstad, at Golden Valley in Park River, ND felt comfortable and confident she could handle his chemo treatments. The U of MN oncology discussed everything with her and we had all the confidence in the world in her.  The Madison-Wisconsin protocol would be a 17 week course of treatments with blood workup every week.  If anything was not right with his blood work he would not receive treatment that week.  For a 4 month course of treatment it was 6 months before Naoisha completed the 17 rounds of drugs.  There were times he had to wait a week or even 2 weeks between treatments because his white blood count (WBC) would be very low.   But he always rebounded after a break between the drugs.

In late March 2008, Neesh completed the last round of chemotherapy.  The vet clinic had a party for him for being a survivor and such a fighter.  We were told to bring him back in 3 weeks for a check up.  When we returned with him, he was out of remission! He had the beginning of swollen nodes behind his front legs and his blood work showed a dramatic increase in his WBC.  Dr. Bjornstad contacted U of MN about what our options were with Naoisha.  After discussing all the options with our vet and the oncologist we decided not to do the rescue protocol that U of MN said was available.  We made this decision because of what the oncologist had to say about a dog coming out of remission so fast and that he had a more aggressive lymphosarcoma.  Since Neesh had problems with the drugs the first round, the oncologist felt Neesh might not survive the treatment he would need to try to put him back into remission.  In other words, the chemo drugs would kill him before the cancer had a chance.  We were also told that his quality of life would not be good while having this set of treatment because of the dosage and drugs he would need.  We did decide to have him put on prednisione (45 mg/day) and antibiotics 3 times a day (Ampicillin) to try to make him comfortable.  The antibiotic was to help ward off any infection that would occur since the high dosage of prednisone would wipe out his immune system.  We knew he would live only 2 to 3 more months and once he stopped responding to the prednisone he would decline quite quickly.

Golden Valley also did a chest X-ray on Naoisha, at my request, for 2 reasons.  One, he was coughing once in awhile and also I wanted to know if the cancer was in his lungs and heart yet.  The X-ray did show lymph nodes swelled in his neck that were pushing on his trachea, you could see a bend, so that explained the coughing.  Also, there were “spots” near his heart and lungs, and whether these were lymph nodes with cancer or just cancer cells we were not sure but they were there and should not have been.

During his last 2 months he was bouncy, eating well, and very talkative.  He had things to say and was telling us!  Also, he did not have good bladder control (prednisone side effect) and was thirsty too.  We were told to give his prednisone to him in the morning so he would be more calm at night.  Well he was unsettled at night, pacing the floor, having to get a drink, panting a lot, and needing to go out all the time.  Bob and I slept downstairs on an air mattress bed so we could get up with Naoisha.  It was tiring for us and Neesh was showing signs of tiredness too.

By the first week in June we were seeing a steady decline in Naoisha.  He did not run anymore, he walked very slowly.  His breathing had a rattle to it, (congestion in his lungs) and he choked when he tried to eat or drink.  I raised his food bowl up for him, fed him soft food and raised the water bowl up too.  This helped, but he was having trouble when he would lay down, he could not breathe well.  So I used blankets, pillows, whatever was close to raise his neck and head up so he could breathe.  Also he did not have the beautiful flat topline anymore.  He had a sway back from the swelling occurring in his internal organs (especially his liver).  The beautiful long stride he had was gone and he no longer could single track.  But he still enjoyed going outside for short periods of time.  The other noticeable thing with him was the loss of muscle tissue.  He looked like he had good weight, but when you touched him, he was skin and bones.  The “look of weight” was swelling.  We started him on pumpkin from our garden to help with his  GI system.  He still was getting Acai, Vitamin A and E daily, raspberry powder, live microbial supplement (proboitics) and of course his frozen liver pieces!  He loved anything frozen—squash pieces, liver, fruit.  I found out from Ella Bittel  (Holistic Veterinarian: Spirits in Transition) that lymphosarcoma is considered a “hot” disease in which case, holistic treatment would aim to cooling.  Ella thought that may be part of why Neesh was so strongly drawn to eat frozen items.    We just knew he enjoyed the frozen liver, veggies and fruit so we let him have these items whenever he wanted them.

I was able to attend the workshop for animal hospice care, Spirits in Transition, (www.spiritsintransition.org) held in St. Paul, MN the first week end of June, thanks to Naoisha being okay and Bob being so willing and able to care for him and the 22 other dogs.  Ella Bittel is a wonderful person and what an inspiring week end for all us that attended.

What I learned at this workshop helped me care for Naoisha during his last week on Earth.  We knew we had the choice to let him die naturally or help him by euthanasia.  Since the cancer was in his lungs and lymph nodes were pressing on his trachea, we decided euthanasia was our option if he started to suffocate.  With animal hospice you learn to understand the stages in dying and what changes will occur for most animals and realize it is the dying process.  You keep the animal comfortable with the aid of medication if needed and love them every step of the way.  Even if euthanasia is the option that one feels should be used to help the animal, you can still do hospice care till the animal lets you know it is time.

Naoisha was starting to stumble when he walked on Friday, June 5^th, and his breathing was very labored.  He would take a few steps, stop to catch his breath, then just stand there until I would come over to help him.  I would let him lean against me as he walked.  I was home 24 hours a day with him and so I tried to explain things to Bob before he came home from work so it would not shock him.  I knew Neesh was ready and had accepted his dying, but Bob was not ready.  I explained this to Naoisha and also asked our good friend, Elaine, who is an animal communicator, to let Naoisha know why I needed him to be strong for a little longer.  Now that was the hardest thing to ask of this dying dog—hang on.  Friday (June 13^th) evening Naoisha played, with his new squeaky toy—squeak, squeak, rest, rest, rest, squeak, rest….  It was nice to see a little sparkle and a little bit of the real Neesh again.

That night, Friday June 13^th, we were up all night with Naoisha.  He could not breathe and could not find a comfortable position.  The noise coming from him trying to breathe was heart wrenching.  By 5:00 a.m. Bob and I had decided it was enough.  We were not going to let Naoisha drown in his cancer filled lungs.  So at 6:30 a.m., I called Golden Valley.  Jeannette answered the phone and I told her it was time for Neesh to go and could someone come out to the house.  We discussed his condition and I told her he would be fine till after lunch when the clinic closed.  She asked me 3 times if I was sure and I said, “yes.  Naoisha has a few good byes to take care of and he will be okay.  And we can continue our hospice care with him and he will be okay.” 

Once all the dogs were fed and we had our own breakfast, I let Naoisha outside with Whitney, Kotah Bear, Jessie and Denver.  I decided I would take pictures of Neesh  too.  I wanted to get pictures of Naoisha with Whitney since they are siblings and I had noticed the last few weeks the two were not “playing/interacting” with each other like they normally do.    I did not notice anything special occurring between them outside in the yard, until I downloaded the pictures of Naoisha and Whitney and realized they were saying good bye to each other. 

Naoisha’s original teammates that are still alive; Smokey, McKensie, Rose, Anna, Callie and Gavin were not left out in this good bye.  I did not have my camera with me when they said good bye but I did stop what I was doing in the yard and so did Bob to watch.  The above dogs were in their kennel runs and Naoisha methodically went to each kennel.  He started with Smokey, and layed down outside the run and Smokey did the same, so they were next to each other, one on each side of the fence.  After a minute may be, Smokey got up and went inside the barn.  Naoisha then went to the next kennel run which had Rose and McKensie in it.  He did the same thing, lied down and they lied down next to him.  He then went to Anna’s kennel and sniffed noses with her through the fence.  He then went to Gavin and Callie’s run and lied down near their fencing.  Callie lied down next to Neesh and Gavin sat there and looked at Neesh.  I did not hear any vocalization but I do believe they were saying goodbye.  Naoisha did wander, very slowly, to the front of the barn near the other kennel runs (the young dogs are housed here).  He could not get to their runs because of our set up but I think he said good bye to all of them.

The other interesting thing was the entire group of dogs in the kennel runs (18 of them) were quiet.  Normally when they know we are in the yard or any of the house dogs are in the yard they will bark, if not all of them, at least my young ones will bark.  But they all were quiet on that sunny Saturday morning.

Naoisha then slowly walked back up to the shade by the house and lied down.  Then a lone sea gull flew overhead.  When I saw that I knew he had said goodbye and the end was coming.  I say that because Naoisha loved sea gulls and would bark and run with his head up barking at the gulls as they flew around him.  This is something he had done for years and gulls were his thing.  Now I understand more the meaning of that gull because they are spiritual messengers from the gods. Native Americans believe sea gulls bridge the gap between the living world and the spirit world and if one opens themselves to the energy of the gulls, you can communicate with the other side.  All these years, was Naoisha talking to the spirits?  Was he talking with Jack, our dearly departed 3 year old Golden, and Drifter his best friend?  Sea Gulls are spiritual messengers and Naoisha had been communicating with the spirits.  What a gift that was to see.

Naoisha died in my arms on June 14, 2008.  Yes our vet, Naoisha’s vet—Dr. Jeannette Bjorstad, helped ease him over.  We could see this was hard for her too.  She fought hard for Naoisha and he was a special dog to her and the clinic.  He touched their lives with his gentleness.

On Sunday the dogs were still quiet, yes a bark now and then, but they seemed to me that they were being respectful.  I went to Grand Forks to buy flowers for my garden and just for a change of scenery.  About 10 miles from home a sea gull flew in front of the CRV!  I laughed and said, “hi Naoisha!”  I kept my mind and heart open, and then I saw in my mind eye it was Naoisha and Drifter together.   Drifter told me that he would take good care of Neesh and that they would run side by side again. Drifter told me that they were always near and would help whenever I asked for them.  Then I saw very vividly the two walking away, so the famous butts I would see on every training or sled run were there once again in front of me!!   Drifter on the left and Naoisha on the right at wheel position.

I have not seen or heard a gull since Sunday.  But Neesh stopped in for a moment on Monday (June 16^th) via Cooper.  Cooper was in the house for a visit, which is something he had not been allowed to do since Sept. of 2007, so he was very happy to be inside.  Cooper came up to me and I knelt down to hug him, and said “hi Bug. How are you?”.  Now “Bug” was Naoisha’s nickname and I had never called another one of our dogs that!!  I was not shocked or concerned, I just knew Neesh had stopped to check on us.  Cooper did a whole body shake and then it was Cooper again.  I mentioned this to Bob the next morning and he said he had called Cooper, Bug too.   Neesh had been here briefly.  What a gift!

This special Samoyed provided so many wonderful gifts to us.  It is rather sad though to think they did not become so evident until it was time for him to start his new life.  

I must thank all the wonderful people involved at Tellington TTouch® and Spirits in Transition programs for helping me to be able to accept the gifts.  Also a very special thank you for the support of my friends Elaine Garley and Jill Wilson for being there when I needed someone to just listen.

Heart hugs,

Helen Corlew -Prairie Isle Dog Trekking

http://prairieisle.googlepages.com